Master Gardeners are adult volunteers recruited and
trained by county extension agents and University of
Florida specialists to provide assistance in Extension
home horticultural programs. Through this program,
enthusiastic gardeners study such areas as botany,
horticulture, soil science, and plant and insect
identification and management.

The Florida Master Gardener Program is administered
by the Cooperative Extension Service, a part of the
University of Florida's Institute of Food and
Agricultural Sciences. This instruction gives the MGs a
good background to prepare them for the wide variety of
questions they may face as volunteers at plant clinics,
giving talks, answering phones, and in the other duties
they undertake. Master Gardeners volunteer 35 hours per year for Extension and take at least 10 hours of continuing
education classes every year. This may seem like a lot,
but many of our MGs volunteer twice that! The hours don't
matter much when you're doing what you love.

At some point during the year, an essential
pre-course meeting ("Getting to Know What It Means to Be a Volunteer
Master Gardener") must be attended. The course is only offered once
a year because it is so intensive and requires a huge commitment in
time from our instructors. After successfully completing the
training program, Volunteer Master Gardeners teach and promote
Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ principles and practices. Examples of
volunteer work include: talking about gardening at fairs, festivals
and special events; speaking at clubs, libraries and schools;
staffing the plant clinic answering phone questions and assisting
with walk-ins; helping maintain a demonstration garden; and writing
about gardening for local newspapers.

If your are interested in becoming a Pasco County Master Gardener,
please call (352) 518-0156 or email
Whitney Elmore
to add your name to the prospective Master Gardener email
contact list.

If you are accepted into the
Master Gardener Volunteer Training Program, you will receive 72
hours of horticultural training in a 12-week course. A required fee
covers educational books from the University of Florida Press,
numerous handouts and other class expenses. The course is held one
full day each week (typically Thursdays from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm).

This comprehensive Volunteer Master Gardener course covers basic
botany and entomology; plant propagation; pruning; how to fertilize;
how to grow vegetables, fruits, and ornamentals; landscape design;
and plant pest problems, among other topics.

This curriculum will help
you be a better Florida gardener. Most importantly, it will enable
you, working through the Extension office, to help fellow citizens
with their gardening questions as well as teach them how to be
Florida-Friendly gardeners.

Individuals who are accepted
into the program must agree to give a minimum of 75 hours of
volunteer work the first year and 35 hours each year thereafter and
receive a minimum of ten hours of continuing education annually to
remain certified as a Florida Master Gardener

Areas of volunteer service include, but are not
limited to, staffing plant clinics, answering
residents' questions on the phone or in person,
maintaining demonstration gardens, assisting with
displays at public venues such as the county fair,
teaching youth through schools or 4-H, speaking to
clubs or civic organizations, etc.

Attend Master Gardener monthly meetings, field
trips, and activities

Complete at least eight hours of continuing
education/training per year